Several Senate bigwigs set to hang their gloves

Departure of major names will pave way for smaller ones in next polls

ISLAMABAD:

As several bigwigs of the major political parties in Senate including the PTI, PML-N and PPP are set to retire, many of those belonging to the Jamaat-e Islami (JI), National Party, PML-F, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and other smaller ones will receive a chance to bag seats in the upper house of parliament in the upcoming polls.

Around 40 senators are set to retire with their six-year-term coming to an end on March 11 as a few political parties will entirely lose their representation in the upper house.

Senators are elected for a period of six years and the polls for the seats in the upper house are not held at once.

After every six years, half of the senators retire after the completion of their tenure and fresh polls are held to fill the vacant seats.

From the PTI, seven senators are retiring including leader of the opposition Dr Shahzad Waseem, Walid Iqbal, Faisal Javed, Fida Muhammad, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Mehr Taj Roghani, and Seemee Ezdi.

Among the 12 PPP senators, the prominent ones include Bahramand Khan Tangi, Mian Raza Rabbani, Maula Bux Chandio, Syed Waqar Mehdi, Rubina Khalid, Anwar Lal Dean, Keshoo Bai, Khalida Sikandar Mandhro, and Ali Shah Jamot.

The major names among the 11 PML-N members in the upper house who will retire include leader of the house and former finance minister Ishaq Dar, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Musadik Malik, Kamran Michael, Nuzhat Sadiq, Hafiz Abdul Karim, Asad Junejo, Rana Mehmoodul Hassan, Shaheen Khalid Butt, and Sabir Shah.

The sole MQM-P senator who is set to retire is Dr Farogh Naseem.

Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani from the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and his deputy Mirza Muhammad Afridi who was elected as an independent candidate from merged districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are also set to retire.

Other prominent names that will no longer be present in the Senate include Talha Mahmood of the JUI-P, Dilawar Khan, Asif Kirmani and Mushtaq Ahmed of the JI.

PPP’s Yousuf Raza Gilani has submitted his nomination papers to contest the Senate polls and to regain his own seat from Islamabad that fell vacant following his victory as an MNA in last month’s general elections.

Gilani will be up against Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) Chaudhry Ilyas Mehrban in a one-on-one Senate contest.